David Lynch's Dune (1984) is a film that in my book, gets unwarranted bad wrap all around. First of all, producers took this film away from David Lynch and edited it in their own way and as a result, Lynch himself disowns it. True, this was unfortunate, but you know what? In my book, this film still rocks and it rocks hard! First off, as an adaptation of the book, it's actually a decent adaptation. True, it feels like a fast forward version of the book and it does leave some stuff out, but then again, doesn't every single book to film adaptation do that? Yes they do. So anyways, I admire this movie because of the incredible artistry involved in making it, and plus, even though the producers took the film away from Lynch, it's still very much a Lynch film if you ask me. This was before the days of computer generated images, so it was made old school, with matte paintings, miniatures and actual sets. When you look at this behind the scenes pictures and see the work and artistry involved for one single shot that lasts a few seconds...well, it just blows me away and makes me love the film that much more. What's that you say? You've yet to see David Lynch's Dune? Well, you're only missing out on one of the biggest science fiction films ever made that's all. I say give it a chance, I doubt you'll be dissapointed! So anyway, here I offer you guys more than 40 behind the scenes pics of this science fiction masterpiece, enjoy!
David Lynch next to Frank Herbert the author and creator of Dune
The most underrated film ever. I've seen it countless times and it still amazes me.
ReplyDeleteWhat let "Dune" down (so to speak) were the special visual effects. Amittedly there are some astonishing sets and mechanical effects, and the film does have a kind of grandiose magnificence about it, but the special visual effects weren`t up to the new incredibly high standards that had been achieved in then recent movies like Poltergeist, Return of the Jedi, Ghostbusters, and The Empire Strikes Back. They should`ve hired Richard Edlund not Barry Nolan then the film would`ve indeed been an all-time classic.
ReplyDeleteI saw Dune when it first cameout. It's still a joy to watch all these years. Another fav film I like by Lynch is Mulholland Drive which is a satire on Hollywood mix with murder at the sametime. But Dune is still my favorite film of his.
ReplyDeleteSergei: Same here, one of my fall time favorites in every way. So are the books, love the books.
ReplyDeleteDebbie: Yeah, sometimes they aren't great, but they were the standard effects of the time. A minor hiccup for me, the film itself is too amazing in so many ways.
Chuck Harrison: Agree, still amazing, it's one of the films I've re-watched the most in my life. If you're a fan of Mullholand Drive, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on my take on the film. On this article, I try and decipher the mystery:
http://filmconnoisseur.blogspot.com/2013/12/mulholland-dr-film-analysis.html
Check it out and let me know what you think of my interpretation of it!
Love this movie. Haven't seen it in a few years, and I even picked up the BluRay pretty darn cheap last year. I think I need to give it another spin. The production design in this film is amazing, so creative and inventive. And that special Lynch touch just make it such a unique film. One of the most under appreciated sci-fi flicks of the 80s, for sure.
ReplyDeleteThere's a special edition out there (called The Extended Edition) that includes every single production pic, every single deleted scene and spliced it into a huge ass version of the film, directed by (ahem) Alan Smithee. It also includes Lynch's version, but that full on Alan Smithee version is a treat for all Dune fans. I recommend it simply to get a glimpse of all that footage that Lynch shot but the producers cut out
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